Solar Cells Info

By Matthew Ralph / March 22, 2007
Source:  New Jersey.com
http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/local/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1174541147174380.xml

HARRISON TWP. An effort to make the township’s wastewater management plant among the first in the region to be partially powered by solar panels is moving forward with the blessing of township officials.  The township committee gave approval earlier this week to explore the option for the Woodland Avenue plant, which services the Mullica Hill section of the township with a capacity of about 800,000 gallons per day.
(more…)

SANTA CLARA, Calif./March 14, 2007
Source: Applied Materials /press release
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/appliedmaterials/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20070314005323&ndmHsc=v2*A1167656400000*B1173907584000*C4102491599000*DgroupByDate*J2*N1002992&newsLang=en&beanID=547561197&viewID=news_view

Applied Materials, Inc., the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology™ solutions for the electronics industry, announced today that it will install over 1.9 megawatts of solar power generation capability at its research campus in Sunnyvale, California. This is believed to be the largest solar power installation on an existing corporate facility in the United States and will be rolled out in three phases.
(more…)

Price rise restricts solar power in Sunderban,  report by Maureen Nandini Mitra
Source. Central Chronicle /March  22, 2007
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20070322/2203303.htm

A few years ago, Shaktipada Jena, a small farmer could dream of buying a home solar power system. He’d have to stretch his means to save between Rs 3,100 and Rs 4,800, the going rate. But now prices have gone through the roof and a solar unit is out of his reach. Everyday, as darkness falls, he sees electric lights come on in some of his neighbours’ homes on Ghoramara island, in the Sunderbans archipelago. Meanwhile, his children do their homework by the flickering glow of kerosene lamps and his wife speaks wistfully of tv soaps that she can’t watch.
(more…)

Could this landmark plant herald a U.S. boom for utility-scale solar power?
By Gilbert E. Cohen
http://www.solartoday.org/2007/mar_apr07/nevada_solar_one.htm

The 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One concentrating solar power plant, among the largest of its kind to date, is slated for completion in April 2007.   Boulder City, just outside of Las Vegas, has been known as a city of promise since the Depression Era, when workers flocked there to build the legendary Hoover Dam. Today this oasis in the desert is the site of the nation’s newest large-scale renewable energy project, Nevada Solar One.

The 64-megawatt (MW) solar thermal power plant, among the largest of its kind to date, broke ground just one year ago, in March 2006. Nevada Solar One’s groundbreaking came three years after the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved a power purchase agreement among utilities Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co. and project leader Solargenix Energy, now a subsidiary of Spain’s Acciona Group. The utilities will use credits from the solar power plant to meet their obligations under Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard.
(more…)

Source: Hindustan Times / OneWorld South Asia
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/147403/1/1893

Imagine running your computer on a solar energy backup for five hours a day! It’s possible, says an expert who sees India as a promising destination for alternative sources of power.  Terence “Terry” J Hart, vice chairman and technical director of IT Power India Pvt Ltd, sees states like Karnataka and West Bengal ahead in the use of alternative energy. A lot is happening in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu too, and Gujarat is coming up well.
(more…)

The First MLB Ballpark to Install a Solar System will Generate Green Energy for PG&E Customers in the City and County of San Francisco

Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company, press release March 21, 2007
http://www.pge.com/news/news_releases/q1_2007/070321.html

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants and Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced a joint partnership to install a solar system at AT&T Park. AT&T Park, the first ballpark in Major League Baseball (MLB) to install a solar system, will provide up to 120 kilowatts of green energy for PG&E customers in the City and County of San Francisco.  “We are thrilled to partner with PG&E to bring green power to San Francisco,” said Peter Magowan, Giants president and managing general partner. “Through this partnership, we hope to raise awareness about the importance of using energy wisely and efficiently and about the need to develop and utilize renewable energy sources.”
(more…)

By JACOB GREBER, Bloomberg News, March 20, 2007
source: The New York Sun
http://www.nysun.com/article/50810

ZURICH, Switzerland — Bertrand Piccard, who along with his co-pilot became the first to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon, won financial support from Germany’s biggest bank to build a solar-powered aircraft that can fly around the globe. The aircraft, with a wing span of 264 feet, will be able to take off and fly using energy from the sun. Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executiv e Officer Joseph Ackermann said his bank will contribute $12 million of the project’s estimated $82.5 million cost.
(more…)

By Pam Radtke Russell / March 11, 2007
source: nola.com
http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-1/117359952326600.xml&coll=1

For some people living in the Lower 9th Ward, sustainable building and renewable power are more than just utopian concepts. Nine homes and the Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association office in the Lower 9th took a big step toward becoming self-sufficient last month. They were fitted with donated solar systems that are capable of producing 20 percent to 30 percent of their electricity.

If homes in the neighborhood had been equipped with solar power before Hurricane Katrina, the community wouldn’t have had to wait so long for power to be restored, said Patricia Jones, director of the NENA, a recovery center in the Lower 9th Ward.
(more…)

By IAN ROSS /March 17, 2007
Source: Northern Ontario Business
http://www.nob.on.ca/industry/energy/03-07-remote.asp

Outfitters and remote lodge owners are slowly gaining a measure of energy independence from their fuel-hogging diesel generators.  Off-grid fly-in lodges have depended almost exclusively on generators to power every aspect of their back country operations.

Remote outfitters are switching to a government assistance program for solar energy.But with high fuel prices, combined with tough times in tourism and tight budgets for camp operators have made the switch from diesel to solar power almost too risky to try, says Doug Reynolds, executive director for the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association (NOTO).
(more…)

By THOMAS CONTENT /March 5, 2007
Source: Journal Sentinel Online
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=573302

Every time the sun shines, Steve Schutz sees the plants in his greenhouse and the refund checks on his utility bill grow.  With 256 solar panels covering its roof, the Urban Ecology Center recently unveiled the largest solar installation system in Wisconsin. The panels generate 44 kilowatts of power.  His New Berlin business, Sunnyslope Gardens, has long relied on the sun, but now it’s powered by it as well. “Being in the greenhouse business, I use solar energy every day with my green plants and producing my crop,” Schutz said. “But I wanted to take it one step further.”
(more…)